For a girl that lives in the city, a summer vacation is the perfect thing to get out of the dead heat. Anna cannot imagine going to the beach or to the mountains like her friends because her family can simply not afford it. When she begs her parents to go on a vacation, they give the chance to spend a week at her aunt and uncles farm. It is great when she arrives and she is so happy to see them, but then Anna comes to realize there is another boy staying on the farm also. His name is Theodore and he does not like Anna being there any more than she likes him on her families farm. The two of them could not be more opposite. A country bumpkin and a city slicker. It isn't only till they are forced to befriend each other that they find they may like each other more than they thought. This story was very well written. It has a good plot, hard but easy wording and is a good book for children to read on their own time or as part of a literature club. The writer brings the setting to life by giving it detailed descriptions of how the air smells, what everything looks like and it feels like you are pulling up to the farm on a wagon. The characters are very much how you would think people from the country versus people of the city act. City people are very proper in that time and do not get dirty or do crazy things. Country people are laid back, work hard for their well being and don't take baths everyday. There are many conflicts in this story, most of them short incidents of an overall dislike for Anna and Theodore. They are typical events that children who dislike each other would pull on one another. There are no high tech events because back in that time they only high tech thing they had was the very new invention of the automobile. The theme is definitely still relevant to things that could happen in present day. There are many groups of siblings or friends that play pranks on each other and hate one another most of the time. It is a age old conflict between young kids that will keep going on for ages. This is a great short book for students who are interested in a good read. If children want a good book about people over coming differences and getting along than this would be a good choice. This would also be good for a literature book club read. The students can be able to relate to it if they have siblings of their own they may fight with. I recommend it highly.
